EDITOR’S NOTE: This poem was selected from entries submitted to our Creative Challenge Series #16: First Sentences, which required that the first phrase in the text must be used as given. Read other Creative Challenge winners. To find out how to participate, go to Creative Challenges.

Roy Adams did a hitch in the U.S. Army, went back to college, got a Ph.D. degree and pursued a career in labour and human rights at a Canadian university. After taking early retirement, he resumed writing and has published over 30 poems in Vallum Contemporary Poetry, Feathertale, The Fiddlehead, Hamilton Arts and Letter, Tower Poetry, other literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad, as well as in several anthologies.